Actionscript

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Actionscript

Preface What's Not in This Book Flash Naming Conventions The Code Typographical Conventions We'd Like to Hear from You Acknowledgments Part I: Local Recipes Chapter 1. ActionScript Basics Introduction Recipe 1.1 Using Mathematical Operators Recipe 1.2 Checking Equality or Comparing Values Recipe 1.3 Performing Actions Conditionally Recipe 1.4 Performing Complex Conditional Testing Recipe 1.5 Repeating an Operation Many Times Recipe 1.6 Performing an Action Once per Frame Update Recipe 1.7 Repeating a Task at Timed Intervals Recipe 1.8 Creating Reusable Code Recipe 1.9 Generalizing a Function to Enhance Reusability Recipe 1.10 Exiting a Function Recipe 1.11 Obtaining the Result of a Function Recipe 1.12 Avoiding Conflicting Variables Recipe 1.13 Reusing and Organizing Code in Multiple Movies Chapter 2. Runtime Environment Introduction Recipe 2.1 Detecting the Player Version Recipe 2.2 Detecting the Operating System Recipe 2.3 Checking the System Language Recipe 2.4 Detecting Display Settings Recipe 2.5 Scaling the Movie Recipe 2.6 Changing the Alignment Recipe 2.7 Detecting the Device's Audio Capabilities Recipe 2.8 Prompting the User to Change Player Settings Recipe 2.9 Hiding the Flash Player's Menu Items Recipe 2.10 Enhancing Standalone Projectors Recipe 2.11 Setting the Dimensions of a Projector Recipe 2.12 Specifying Where on Screen a Projector Opens Chapter 3. Color Introduction Recipe 3.1 Setting the Color of a Movie Clip Recipe 3.2 Specifying RGB Values Recipe 3.3 Decoding an RGB Value Recipe 3.4 Setting the RGB Relative to Its Current Value Recipe 3.5 Tinting a Movie Clip's Color Recipe 3.6 Setting a Movie Clip's Transparency Recipe 3.7 Transforming a Movie Clip's Current Color Recipe 3.8 Restoring a Movie Clip's Original Color Recipe 3.9 Controlling a Movie Clip's Color with Sliders Chapter 4. Drawing and Masking Introduction Recipe 4.1 Drawing a Line Recipe 4.2 Drawing a Curve Recipe 4.3 Drawing a Rectangle Recipe 4.4 Drawing a Rounded Rectangle Recipe 4.5 Drawing a Circle Recipe 4.6 Drawing an Ellipse Recipe 4.7 Drawing a Triangle Recipe 4.8 Drawing Regular Polygons Recipe 4.9 Filling a Shape with a Solid or Translucent Color Recipe 4.10 Filling a Shape with a Gradient Recipe 4.11 Filling a Shape with a Complex Gradient Recipe 4.12 Scripting Masks Chapter 5. Numbers and Math Introduction Recipe 5.1 Representing Numbers in Different Bases Recipe 5.2 Converting Between Different Number Systems Recipe 5.3 Rounding Numbers Recipe 5.4 Inserting Leading or Trailing Zeros Recipe 5.5 Formatting Numbers for Display Recipe 5.6 Formatting Currency Amounts Recipe 5.7 Generating a Random Number Recipe 5.8 Simulating a Coin Flip Recipe 5.9 Simulating Dice Recipe 5.10 Simulating Playing Cards Recipe 5.11 Generating a Unique Number Recipe 5.12 Converting Angle Measurements Recipe 5.13 Calculating the Distance Between Two Points Recipe 5.14 Determining Points Along a Circle Recipe 5.15 Converting Between Units of Measurement Recipe 5.16 Calculating Asset Appreciation (Future Value) Recipe 5.17 Calculating Retirement Savings Recipe 5.18 Calculating the Loan (Mortgage) You Can Afford Recipe 5.19 Calculating Loan Amortization or Annuities Chapter 6. Arrays Introduction Recipe 6.1 Adding Elements to the Start or End of an Array Recipe 6.2 Looping Through an Array Recipe 6.3 Searching for Matching Elements in an Array Recipe 6.4 Removing Elements Recipe 6.5 Inserting Elements in the Middle of an Array Recipe 6.6 Converting a String to an Array Recipe 6.7 Converting an Array to a String Recipe 6.8 Creating a Separate Copy of an Array Recipe 6.9 Storing Complex or Multidimensional Data Recipe 6.10 Sorting or Reversing an Array Recipe 6.11 Implementing a Custom Sort Recipe 6.12 Creating an Associative Array Recipe 6.13 Reading Elements of an Associative Array Chapter 7. Movie Clips Introduction Recipe 7.1 Referring to Movie Clips via ActionScript Recipe 7.2 Targeting Movie Clips with Dynamic Names Recipe 7.3 Affecting Playback Recipe 7.4 Reversing Playback Recipe 7.5 Using Movie Clips as Buttons Recipe 7.6 Defining Hit Areas for Movie Clips Recipe 7.7 Checking for Mouseover Recipe 7.8 Performing Repeated Actions on Movie Clips Recipe 7.9 Fading a Movie Clip Recipe 7.10 Discovering Nested Movie Clips Recipe 7.11 Getting Unique Depths Recipe 7.12 Getting a Movie Clip's Boundaries Recipe 7.13 Creating a Draggable Movie Clip Recipe 7.14 Creating a Custom Mouse Pointer Recipe 7.15 Checking for Overlapping Movie Clips (Performing Hit Tests) Recipe 7.16 Changing Stacking Order Recipe 7.17 Converting Between Coordinate Spaces Recipe 7.18 Duplicating Movie Clips Recipe 7.19 Adding Movie Clips from the Library with ActionScript Chapter 8. Text Introduction Recipe 8.1 Referring to a Text Field via ActionScript Recipe 8.2 Creating a Text Field Recipe 8.3 Creating an Outline Around a Text Field Recipe 8.4 Creating a Background for a Text Field Recipe 8.5 Making a User Input Field Recipe 8.6 Making a Password Input Field Recipe 8.7 Filtering Text Input Recipe 8.8 Restricting the Maximum Field Length Recipe 8.9 Displaying Dynamic Text at Runtime Recipe 8.10 Displaying HTML-Formatted Text Recipe 8.11 Condensing Whitespace Recipe 8.12 Sizing Text Fields to Fit Contents Recipe 8.13 Scrolling Text with the ScrollBar Component Recipe 8.14 Scrolling Text Programmatically Recipe 8.15 Responding to Scroll Events Recipe 8.16 Formatting Existing Text Recipe 8.17 Formatting User-Input Text Recipe 8.18 Formatting a Portion of a Text Field Recipe 8.19 Setting a Text Field's Font Recipe 8.20 Embedding Fonts Recipe 8.21 Creating Text That Can Be Rotated Recipe 8.22 Displaying Unicode Text Recipe 8.23 Assigning Focus to a Text Field Recipe 8.24 Selecting Text with ActionScript Recipe 8.25 Setting the Insertion Point in a Text Field Recipe 8.26 Responding When Text Is Selected or Deselected Recipe 8.27 Responding to User Text Entry Recipe 8.28 Adding a Hyperlink to Text Chapter 9. Strings Introduction Recipe 9.1 Joining Strings Recipe 9.2 Using Quotes and Apostrophes in Strings Recipe 9.3 Inserting Special Whitespace Characters Recipe 9.4 Searching for a Substring Recipe 9.5 Extracting a Substring Recipe 9.6 Matching Patterns with Regular Expressions Recipe 9.7 Looking for a Pattern Match Recipe 9.8 Parsing a String into Words Recipe 9.9 Removing and Replacing Characters Recipe 9.10 Processing One Character at a Time Recipe 9.11 Converting Case Recipe 9.12 Trimming Whitespace Recipe 9.13 Reversing a String by Word or by Letter Recipe 9.14 Converting Between Strings and Unicode or ASCII Chapter 10. Dates and Times Introduction Recipe 10.1 Finding the Current Date and Time Recipe 10.2 Retrieving the Day or Month Name Recipe 10.3 Formatting the Date and Time Recipe 10.4 Formatting Milliseconds as Minutes and Seconds Recipe 10.5 Converting Between DMYHMSM and Epoch Milliseconds Recipe 10.6 Calculating Elapsed Time or Intervals Between Dates Recipe 10.7 Parsing a Date from a String Recipe 10.8 Creating Timers and Clocks Chapter 11. Forms Introduction Recipe 11.1 Adding UI Components at Runtime Recipe 11.2 Positioning Form Elements Recipe 11.3 Adding Menus to a Form Recipe 11.4 Making Dependent Menus Recipe 11.5 Resizing Menus to Fit Their Contents Recipe 11.6 Detecting the Selected Menu Items Recipe 11.7 Adding Radio Buttons to a Group Recipe 11.8 Aligning Radio Buttons Automatically Recipe 11.9 Getting the Selected Radio Button Value Recipe 11.10 Adding Checkboxes to a Form Recipe 11.11 Getting Checkbox Values Recipe 11.12 Assembling an Advanced Form Recipe 11.13 Submitting a Form Recipe 11.14 Validating Form Input Recipe 11.15 Alerting Users to Validation Errors Recipe 11.16 Making a Multipage Form Recipe 11.17 Submitting a Multipage Form Recipe 11.18 Validating a Multipage Form Recipe 11.19 Transmitting Data Securely Recipe 11.20 Prepopulating a Form Recipe 11.21 Customizing the Tab Order Recipe 11.22 Using Tables to Arrange Form Elements Recipe 11.23 Creating Auto-Complete Text Fields Recipe 11.24 Customizing a Component's Appearance Recipe 11.25 Customizing All Components' Appearances Chapter 12. Objects and Custom Components Introduction Recipe 12.1 Using Methods and Properties of Built-in Objects Recipe 12.2 Creating an Instance of a Class Recipe 12.3 Adding Properties to an Object Instance Recipe 12.4 Adding Custom Methods to an Object Instance Recipe 12.5 Creating a Custom Class Recipe 12.6 Creating Smart Getter/Setter Properties Recipe 12.7 Defining Read-Only Properties Recipe 12.8 Creating Subclasses Recipe 12.9 Implementing Subclass Versions of Superclass Methods Recipe 12.10 Listening for Events Recipe 12.11 Adding Listeners to Custom Classes Recipe 12.12 Creating a Component That Subclasses MovieClip Recipe 12.13 Program: Color Selector Component Chapter 13. Programming Sound Introduction Recipe 13.1 Creating an Object to Control Sound Recipe 13.2 Attaching Sounds at Runtime Recipe 13.3 Playing and Stopping a Sound Recipe 13.4 Getting Playback Time Recipe 13.5 Looping a Sound Recipe 13.6 Setting In and Out Points Recipe 13.7 Pausing and Resuming a Sound Recipe 13.8 Performing Actions When a Sound Ends Recipe 13.9 Queuing Sounds Recipe 13.10 Adding Sounds to Buttons and UI Components Recipe 13.11 Setting the Volume of a Sound Recipe 13.12 Controlling the Panning of a Sound Recipe 13.13 Creating Advanced Stereo Panning Effects Recipe 13.14 Fading In a Sound Recipe 13.15 Fading Out a Sound Recipe 13.16 Program: A Sound Controller Component Part II: Remote Recipes Chapter 14. FlashCom Server Introduction Recipe 14.1 Creating a New FlashCom Application Recipe 14.2 Connecting to the FlashCom Server Recipe 14.3 Adding a Video Object at Runtime Recipe 14.4 Capturing and Displaying Video from a Web Cam Recipe 14.5 Capturing and Playing Audio from a Microphone Recipe 14.6 Controlling FlashCom Audio Recipe 14.7 Subscribing to Audio/Video Content Recipe 14.8 Creating Playlists Recipe 14.9 Recording and Publishing Video and Audio Recipe 14.10 Publishing Live Content Recipe 14.11 Pausing and Resuming a Net Stream Recipe 14.12 Fast-Forwarding and Rewinding a Net Stream Recipe 14.13 Seeking Relative to the Total Stream Length Recipe 14.14 Implementing Server-Side ActionScript Recipe 14.15 Tracking Clients Connected to the Application Recipe 14.16 Invoking Server-Side Functions from the Client Movie Recipe 14.17 Invoking Client-Side Functions from the Server Chapter 15. Loading Assets Introduction Recipe 15.1 Loading an External SWF Recipe 15.2 Loading an External SWF from a Trusting Domain Recipe 15.3 Loading an External JPEG Image Recipe 15.4 Loading an External Image (All Formats) Recipe 15.5 Loading an External MP3 Sound Recipe 15.6 Loading Remote Content by Proxy Recipe 15.7 Determining if an Asset Is Loaded Recipe 15.8 Getting the Percentage of an Asset That Has Loaded Recipe 15.9 Monitoring Load Progress Using a Progress Bar Component Recipe 15.10 Monitoring Load Progress Without a Progress Bar Component Recipe 15.11 Performing Actions When the Asset Is Loaded Recipe 15.12 Hiding the Graphics and Text for a Progress Bar Chapter 16. Storing Persistent Information Introduction Recipe 16.1 Storing and Retrieving Locally Persistent Information Recipe 16.2 Adding Data to a Client-Side Shared Object Recipe 16.3 Reading Values from a Client-Side Shared Object Recipe 16.4 Saving a Local Shared Object Recipe 16.5 Sharing Information Between Movies Within the Same Domain Recipe 16.6 Storing Persistent Data on the Server Recipe 16.7 Saving Remote Shared Object Data Recipe 16.8 Checking for Updates to Remote Shared Objects Recipe 16.9 Reading Values from a Server-Side Shared Object Recipe 16.10 Adding Data to a Server-Side Shared Object Chapter 17. Communicating with Other Movies Introduction Recipe 17.1 Communicating with Other Movieson the Same Computer Recipe 17.2 Sending Data Using Local Connections Recipe 17.3 Validating Receipt of Communication Over a Local Connection Recipe 17.4 Accepting Communications from Other Domains Recipe 17.5 Communicating Between Movies on Different Computers Recipe 17.6 Broadcasting Data to Remote Shared Object Clients Chapter 18. Sending and Loading Variables Introduction Recipe 18.1 Loading Variables from a Text File Recipe 18.2 Loading Variables from a Server-Side Script Recipe 18.3 Checking Load Progress Recipe 18.4 Sending Data to a Server-Side Script Recipe 18.5 Sending Variables and Handling a Returned Result Chapter 19. XML Introduction Recipe 19.1 Understanding XML Structure (Reading and Writing XML) Recipe 19.2 Creating an XML Object Recipe 19.3 Adding Elements to an XML Object Recipe 19.4 Adding Text Nodes to an XML Object Recipe 19.5 Creating an XML Object from an Array Recipe 19.6 Adding Attributes to an XML Element Recipe 19.7 Reading Elements in an XML Tree Recipe 19.8 Finding Elements by Name Recipe 19.9 Reading Text Nodes and Their Values Recipe 19.10 Reading an Element's Attributes Recipe 19.11 Loading XML Recipe 19.12 Removing Extra Whitespace from XML Objects Recipe 19.13 Sending XML Recipe 19.14 Sending XML Data and Receiving a Response Recipe 19.15 Searching XML Recipe 19.16 Using XML Data to Initialize a Movie Chapter 20. Flash Remoting Introduction Recipe 20.1 Establishing a Connection via Flash Remoting Recipe 20.2 Configuring Flash Remoting for ColdFusion Recipe 20.3 Configuring Flash Remoting for .NET Recipe 20.4 Configuring Flash Remoting for J2EE Recipe 20.5 Configuring Flash Remoting for PHP or Perl Recipe 20.6 Invoking a Remote Function on a Service Recipe 20.7 Handling Flash Remoting Results Recipe 20.8 Distinguishing Among Results from Multiple Calls to a Single Service Recipe 20.9 Calling ASP.NET Functions from Flash Recipe 20.10 Calling ColdFusion Functions from Flash Recipe 20.11 Passing Named Parameters to ColdFusion Component Methods Recipe 20.12 Passing Complex Parameters to ColdFusion Component Methods Recipe 20.13 Calling Java or JSP Functions from Flash Recipe 20.14 Transmitting Custom Datatypes to a Flash Remoting Back End Recipe 20.15 Receiving Typed Objects with ColdFusion Recipe 20.16 Receiving Typed Objects with ASP.NET Recipe 20.17 Receiving Typed Objects with Java Recipe 20.18 Returning Typed Objects from ColdFusion Recipe 20.19 Returning Typed Objects from ASP.NET Recipe 20.20 Returning Typed Objects from Java Recipe 20.21 Writing Server-Side Functions in ActionScript Recipe 20.22 Querying a Database with Server-Side ActionScript Recipe 20.23 Making HTTP Requests with Server-Side ActionScript Recipe 20.24 Consuming Web Services with Flash Remoting for .NET or ColdFusion Chapter 21. Recordsets Introduction Recipe 21.1 Creating Recordsets Recipe 21.2 Reading Recordsets Recipe 21.3 Filtering Recordsets Recipe 21.4 Sorting Recordsets by a Single Column Recipe 21.5 Populating Menu Components Recipe 21.6 Using Recordsets with DataGrids Part III: Applications Chapter 22. Building a Flash Paint Application 22.1 Planning the Application 22.2 Building the Components 22.3 Assembling the Flash Paint Application 22.4 Using Flash Paint Chapter 23. Creating a Simple Animation in Stages 23.1 Stage One 23.2 Stage Two 23.3 Stage Three 23.4 Stage Four 23.5 Stage Five 23.6 Conclusion Chapter 24. Video Chat/Message Center 24.1 Developing the Application Overview 24.2 Creating the Server-Side Application 24.3 Creating the Calling Client 24.4 Creating the Administrator Client 24.5 Putting It All Together Chapter 25. Image Viewer/Slideshow 25.1 Planning the Application Design 25.2 Beginning the Application 25.3 Creating the Components 25.4 Putting Together the Application 25.5 Wrapping It Up Chapter 26. Creating an MP3 Jukebox 26.1 Creating an Application Overview 26.2 Developing the MP3 Selectors 26.3 Developing the Jukebox Application 26.4 Wrapping It Up Chapter 27. A Personalized My Page Application 27.1 Formulating the Application Overview 27.2 Creating the Framework 27.3 Creating Service Modules 27.4 Putting It All Together 27.5 Extending the Framework 27.6 Wrapping It Up Chapter 28. A Scheduler Program 28.1 Designing the Application Structure 28.2 Making the Components 28.3 Putting the Application Together 28.4 Making the Scheduler Application Available Online 28.5 Using LoadVars and XML 28.6 Wrapping It Up Appendix A. Unicode Escape Sequences for Latin 1 Characters Colophon